You Drive Me Crazy (In the Best Way Possible)
by Goodvibes123
Summary: "You think I'm confusing?" I ask, letting out a chuckle. She nods her head and I scratch the back of my neck. "Ironic, 'cause you're the only thing that seems to make sense to me."
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own a house, so I definitely don't own Glee. **

* * *

I hear the chanting and screaming of the other protestors as I'm running as fast as I can through the crowd. Dodging people left and right while avoiding the signs that are in my way. I can see Tina in the distance holding up her sign. I pick up my speed while trying to get lost in the crowd.

I let out a chuckle as I'm running away because right now, the policeman looks really pathetic. As time passes by, I don't feel anybody chasing after me anymore so I stop to look back but still the officer is still chasing me, he's just further behind. Another policeman cuts through the crowd in front of me and finds himself blocking me from getting any further.

I stop in my track because now I'm surrounded. I turn around and look at the other police officers and my eye lands on Will, "Hey Will," I say to the man in the uniform. He looks at the other police officers and dismissing them away from us with a nod of his head.

"Santana, you got to stop doing this." He says shaking his head.

"Stop standing up for something that's right? I don't think that's in my criteria today." I say, words lacing in sarcasm. Will looks to me and then to the backpack that I have secured on my shoulders but doesn't make any effort to try to take it from me.

"We have to take you in," Will says, still breathing pretty hard.

I shrug before bringing my arms out and up in front of me for him to put in handcuffs. I figure, I probably won't be able to get out of this because I'm literally surrounded by cops, so I mind as well let Will be the one to take me in. This happens at almost every protest. It's almost like a weekly routine.

As Will pulls me through the crowd in handcuffs, I accidentally walk into someone. As I turn around, ready to apologize I see it's a news reporter. She also turns around, confusion etched on her face. When I look at her, I feel like I've seen her before, but before I can think any further, I'm being pulled through by Will. As I'm getting pulled away, I don't let myself look away from her though. I swear I've seen her before. But as I get farther into the crowd, she gets lost in the crowd of people in front of me.

The chanting doesn't settle down at all and when I get pulled away, it gets even louder. We make it to the car and I'm about to enter when a random girl walks up to us and throws her arms around my neck and pants a kiss right on my lips. Will pulls the girl away and she gets lost in the sea of people. As for me? I'm still confused as to what just happened. "Who the hell was that?" he asks with confusion as he pulls on my elbow.

"I have no fucking idea." I say, shaking my head smiling.

Will shakes his head and rolls his eyes. He continues pulling me towards the car by my elbow and when we finally make it, he opens the door and I get in. Before I enter the car, I decide to have a little fun. I mean, I'm already going to jail. "Can I ride in the front?"

"No," Will says opening the back door. I kick it shut with my foot and Will definitely looks pissed but I'm having a ball so I continue.

"Come on, Will, I called shot gun last time. It's only fair." I say trying to convince him. Will shakes his head no again, and again, I kick the back door shut with my foot. Will closes his eyes, pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out a frustrated huff before going to the passenger door and opening it for me. I let out a smirk and enter the passenger seat. Before he closes the door, I hear Will mumbling something along the lines of, "Always so stubborn," but I don't really care at this moment.

As we're driving away, the noises from the people chanting slowly fade until it's completely silent in the car with Will and I, So I decide to start up a conversation. "So, Will, are you and Emma planning a 'Welcome Home' party for Ella when she gets here?" I ask, just knowing it'll piss him off.

Will turns his attention to me and I smile, "We don't know yet, Santana." He says. Ella is Will's daughter who just happens to be really, really, really, really pretty. Like everybody-stops-and-stares-when-she-enters-a-room- pretty. Which is why I was so surprised when I found out he was her dad. Will always gets butt hurt whenever I mention her because we're good friends and he doesn't think I'm a good influence on her.

I mean, I wouldn't say I'm a good influence because I make really horrible decisions, that I can admit to. But I'm definitely not the worst influence on her.

"I talked to her…what was it? A week ago, I think. She seems really excited to be coming back home." I comment. Will nods his head but I can tell he's extremely irritated with me by now. But somehow, I can't find it in myself to really care; so the whole ride to the station, I continue having my one sided conversation with Will.

* * *

Upon arriving at the station, Will gives me the same speech he always does, "You get one phone call, Santana. I suggest calling your dad."

Oh, besides him being my friend's dad, he's also friends with my dad. Well, more like they golf together but yeah. Them being friends is the only reason why I still have a clean record. I mean I didn't ask for it, because honestly I don't care but my dad still cares even if it's his company I'm putting up in jeopardy. It doesn't make sense to anyone else but it makes sense to me. No body really get's my father's intentions for doing the things that he does.

I scoff at him before calling the one person I know will always pick up.

After the third ring, he picks up, "Puckerman, here."

"Puck, I need you to come get me at the station." I explain to him, while looking around the station. Will's still giving me that disapproving look and all I can do is shrug my shoulders. I can't call Tina, she's still at the park, I can't call my mom because she's going to start crying and when I call her, it's possible my dad will show up with her, and that's the last thing that I want.

"Again? I don't know if I can bail you out this time, San." He says letting out a sigh. I hear shuffling on the other line and I roll my eyes a little.

"Why not?" I say exasperated. My other cell mates in the station are looking at me because I was pretty loud just then, I cover the phone before letting out a small cough before listening to whatever the hell it is that Puck is saying.

"I've had to bail you out three times within this month. It's ridiculous." Puck says. I can tell he's a little annoyed so I just let it go. I can deal with it.

"You know what? Fine, whatever." With that I hang up. I said he'll always pick up, not that he'll always bail me out. I guess I'm spending the night in jail. Oh joy. Maybe I'll get a tattoo; the guy I was sitting next to said he does tattoos. Oh, mom and dad would love that.

Not half an hour later, I hear heels clicking against the hard ground and I bury my face in my hands knowing exactly who it is. "Santana Diabla Lopez," is heard even before my mother is seen. I let out a sigh before standing up. Of course Puck would call my mom. I turn to the other people in the cell with me, "That's my cue guys, hopefully I don't see you later, but that's highly unlikely."

I bring my hands up and Will takes off my handcuffs. I rub my wrists from where the outlines of the handcuffs were. Fuck, those were on really tight. He unlocks the door and lets me out. My mom cuts in front of Will and then she's engulfing me in a hug, and then cupping my cheek, "Mija, are you okay?"

I roll my eyes slightly and nod. It doesn't pass my mom though, she sees everything. Letting out a sigh and then pulling me away and towards Will, I follow my mom-not that I had an option- and she's signing some papers before I'm getting released. I grab my backpack that's being handed back to me from Will. He gives me a stern look but I just smile back, "Pleasure doing business, William."

"Santana!" my mom chastises.

"It was a joke, ma." I say shrugging my shoulders. Now it's her turn to roll her eyes and shake her head. She sends an apologetic look to Will before we both walk out of the station.

We step outside and I see my parents' car waiting there with security waiting by the door; she still hasn't let go of my arm and I know where this is going to go, "I don't need a ride, Mom."

My mom turns around and looks at me with the same look she gave me when I visited her at work to tell her that I wasn't going to be attending Christmas dinner with her and dad. "I don't understand why you keep on doing this, San."

"You know why, mom. I'm doing what I think is right." I tell her. I'm not that surprised that my dad's not here right now, he's probably still at his party. If he wasn't hosting the party, he'd probably be here right now, probably yelling at me. It's not like I care.

"But…showing up at protests time after time and getting arrested at every single one? San you have to stop this." My mom says stepping close to me and cupping my cheek. I can see it in her eyes that she just wants me to drop this. She wants me to go back to her and my dad but I can't do that.

"I'll stop when he stops. He can't do this to people, Mom. He knows how important that place is to me and Abuela but all he thinks about is money. I can go on and on about why he's wrong, but me, you, and the whole goddamn world knows that he's wrong. The only people that see his side of it are his damn business partners." I say ending my rant. "I'm sorry I can't do what you want me to do Mom, I just can't."

I hear her let out a sigh before dropping her hand from my cheek and grabbing my hands. "At least just come back home for tonight, Mija. Please," she begs. I make no move to answer her and I think she takes the silence as a yes, but it's anything but that. I hold my mom's hand to stop her from pulling me to the car. When she turns around to me again, I shake my head because that's not my home anymore, "I'm going _home_, mom." I say, stepping closer to her and hugging her before turning around and walking the opposite direction.

The further I get from my mom and her pack of security that Dad's got hired, I feel more calm and content. I head back towards the building, as I get closer and closer, I see that it's now cleared of protesters just some news reporters lingering around trying to get the aftermath of the scene. I spot my motorcycle and make my way to it. I pick up my helmet and I'm about to put it on when I feel a pair of eyes on me. I turn my head and see that news reporter from earlier—the one that I ran into.

She smiles at me and I smile back at her. Looking at her now, I know that I definitely won't be forgetting her. Her cameraman is tugging her elbow and she turns around and moves away from my direction. I pull my helmet on with a smile on my face. I pull my keys out of my jacket and start the motorcycle.

As I'm driving, I decide to take a little detour and go somewhere else before going home. I park and make my way into the bar. As I walk in I spot Mike and he places a beer down for me even before I take a seat. "You're not supposed to be working today," He chuckles.

I let out a soft chuckle myself too while nodding confirming that I was. "Did Tina make it back okay?" I ask.

Mike nods and throws the towel over his shoulder "I called her like an hour ago. She said it was really hectic and that she saw you coming out of the building but didn't know exactly what it is that you were doing."

"Well, you could say that I was…making progress." I say, smiling. Mike smiles but shakes his head at the same time. He's about to say something when someone comes up next to me and orders a drink, cutting him off, which might I add was extremely rude. Mike senses that and he give me that look telling me to let it go, but I just can't seem to let anything go today so I turn my head to look at the girl.

Turning to face her, I have my words set on what I'm about to say to her but all the words that were once on the tip of my tongue just disappeared when I finally set my eyes on her. Fuck. It's that news reporter. I stare at her for a while-unconsciously that is. She quirks her eyebrow and smiles, "yes?"

I blink a couple times before returning back to earth. She's smirking and I'm confused. Who the hell does she think she is? I mean, she's pretty, but just because you have a pretty face doesn't mean you can treat people like that. "I'm sorry, but that was really rude," I tell her.

She stands up straighter and this time I have to look up at her. "But he's the bartender, isn't he supposed to be doing his job?" she asks crossing her arms.

Wow, I liked her a lot better when all we did was smile at each other.

"His job is—"

"San, just let it go." Mike says cutting me off, "It's okay."

I look to her then to Mike before letting out a huff, "Whatever." I say picking up my drink and moving a few seats over so I can get away from her. I sit down and turn in my seat to look at the other people in the bar. And just when I was about to get up, the seat next to me is being taken up by the same blonde news reporter just seconds ago. "Yes?" I mimic not even bothering to look at her.

"And you say I'm rude." She retorts.

I take another sip of my beer before turning my body to face the girl. I place my drink on the bar-pretty loudly I might add-and stand up. "You are rude…and a bitch. Aren't news reporters supposed to be at least decent?" I ask.

"Oh, you are such a charmer." She says sarcastically. She moves so that she's standing in front of me. "I bet you just have people swooning over you." She adds. I don't know if she's trying to get under my skin with her sarcasm, but it's definitely not working. I actually think what I said to her bothers her more than what she's saying to me now.

"You bet I do, sweetheart." I say, smiling knowing just how much it'll piss her off. I look behind me and see that Mike kind of busy so I decide that I should probably get home. I make my way over to him, "I'm heading out. See you later, Mike."

Mike gives me a nod, "I'll tell Tina to call you when I get home," he says in lieu of a goodbye.

As I make my way through the bar, I can still feel the news reporter following me. I make it to my bike and stop to turn around to face her. "Well, sweetheart, I would say that it was nice meeting you, but then I'd be lying." I say giving her the most fake smile I can muster up before pulling my helmet on.

"You're an ass, you know that right?" she says causing me to stop what I was doing.

I let out a chuckle before turning my full attention to her, "I swear just not too long ago, I was, and I quote, "such a charmer". What's with the change of heart?" I ask.

The news reporter crosses her arms and she rolls her eyes. "You are unbelievable."

"You don't even know me." I smirk before pulling my helmet completely on, "...but so I've been told."

She stares at me for a while then she takes a step in my direction but before she gets any further; her name is being called out from inside the bar. I look behind her to see her camera operator looking at me and her but she still hasn't taken her eyes off of me.

She lets out a sigh before taking a step back and turning around to look at the blonde guy. "Hey, Sam. What's up?" she says.

I feel like this is my cue to leave so slowly and quietly I use my foot to kick the stand up, balance the motorcycle before driving off not even bothering to look back at them. People nowadays are just so…complicated. Yep, definitely won't be forgetting her for a while.

* * *

I make it to my apartment within ten minutes and I open my empty fridge and pull out the last bottle of beer while making a mental note to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I untwist the cap and take a drink before setting it down on the table.

Turning on the TV, I lean back a little. Right when the screen comes on, showing different colors, I'm not surprised to see what they're main coverage is.

I pick up my beer and take another drink while listening to what the anchorman is saying, "…_Billionaire Martin Lopez host a corporation party while protesters start a party of their own in front of his building." _

After hearing that, I stand up and turn off the TV before heading to bed.

Tomorrow's another day.

* * *

**For those who follow and keep up with my other story, SURPRISE!**


	2. Chapter 2

I wake up to the slight knocking on my door. Letting out a groan, I pull myself up and run my fingers through my hair and tying it up in a bun. I hear the knock again so I get out of bed, grab my glasses and make my way to the door. Walking through my studio, I rub the sleep out of my eyes. Just when I'm close enough to the door, I hear the damn knocking again. "Okay!" I let out.

Opening the door, I'm suddenly engulfed in a hug; arms around my neck and legs wrapped around my waist. I lose my balance and fall back; my back colliding with the hardwood floors. I let out a groan and rub the back of my head.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry San!"

My eyes open and I see Ella in front of me—well more of…on top of me? At first I was going to bitch at whoever the hell it was that just jumped me but now seeing who it is, I can't do that. I look at her, and you know when I told you she was pretty right? Well I wasn't lying. A smile forms on her face and mine does the same. "Because I love you, I'll let that one go." I say.

She lets out a laugh and pulls me up for a hug. "You couldn't be mad at me even if you tried." She says. I don't argue because that's absolutely, 100% true. "I missed you so much," she says. I look behind her and see her suitcase in the hallway so I'm assuming she told Will and Emma to not pick her up. I pull in her suitcase into the apartment and then she's tugging on my hand, leading me to the couch. She sits down and I sit next to her.

"I missed you too. How was the trip?" I ask.

"It was good. The kids were just so…amazing. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go there," she says. Ella joined the Peace Corps and just last year she got the chance to volunteer over in some parts of Asia. I think there were like four different places and with each place she went, she always sent me a post card. "How's everything going here?"

"Well, your dad arrested me again." I say nonchalantly. "And well—" I don't get to finish the sentence because I feel a slap on my arm. "Ouch," I say, rubbing the place that she just hit, "What the hell was that for?"

"You know what it was for. You promised that you wouldn't get in trouble with the police again, let alone my dad." She says sternly.

"Oh Ell," I laugh, "I did no such thing. I said that I would try my best. I don't make promises unless I know for sure that I can keep them."

She tries to slap my arm again but I catch her wrist before it makes contact with my arm. "I'm sorry, Okay." I say, chuckling. "For what it's worth, I really did try my best."

"You're an ass, I hope you know that." She says before shaking her head.

"Funny. Some girl told me that yesterday too." I say getting lost in my head and thinking about that news reporter from last night. Wow, she was a bitch. But even I have to admit she was gorgeous.

"San?" Ella says trying to get my attention. "Did you hear what I said?" she asks. I shake my head no so she repeats it. "I told my mom and dad that I was going to stay with you before going home. Is that okay?"

I give her a questioning look. "Are you sure Will's okay with that? I mean, your dad hates me."

And I'm not exaggerating when I say that Will hates me. He may seem like I annoy him occasionally but I know I annoy the shit out of him every time we see each other.

Ella shakes her head a little before moving to grab my hands. "Please San?" she says fluttering her eyelashes. I let out a sigh before rolling my eyes. Ella starts celebrating even before I say anything because she already knows the answer. She jumps up and makes her way to her suitcase and rolls it in to my room. I'm about to get up to follow her when I hear knocking on my front door. I let out a sigh. "Is there a fucking party that I didn't know about?" I mumble.

As I make my way to the door, I think about how the hell this is going to work out.

I go to answer it and I see Tina standing there with a big smile on her face. I let out a soft chuckle, "What's gotten you all smiley?"

"Well, when I woke up this morning and turned on the TV, the coverage on a certain topic just had me laughing and in a good mood." She says walking pass me and into the apartment. She looks to me and is about to say something when she hears noise coming from my room. Tina directs her attention to me and shakes her head. "Really Santana? You brought a girl home last night?"

This is the part where Tina judges me. I mean, it's not like I don't give her a reason to not think that there isn't a girl with me. Tina thinks it's unhealthy that I keep on doing what I do and not even consider on starting a relationship with them, but I honestly see nothing wrong with it. Tina only thinks I should start a relationship because she thinks every relationship can be like her and Mike's.

I give her a confused look and then start shaking my head. "No," I say sighing. Tina looks at me like a mother waiting on an explanation from her kid, "It's just Ell. She just got back and she asked to stay here." I tell her.

"Ell? Peace Corps Ell? Your Ell?" she says aloud. My eyes widen and I move to cover her mouth. Tina gives me a confused look before pushing me away from her. "What the hell?"

I knew I should've kept my mouth shut. I love Tina, I do. But every time she knows something, within the next two days, all of New York will also know.

"Can you talk any louder? Jeez, she's right down the hall. And…" I say, exasperatedly looking around, "She's not 'my' anything. We're just friends and I don't want things to get weird."

Okay, maybe that's a lie. I maybe still have some kind of feeling for her. Maybe. But if so, it's just a little.

"…and maybe the fact that she's straight might have had something do with it." Tina adds quietly. I give her a stern look but she ignores it and moves to my room to greet Ella. I let my eyes close and rub my temple. I don't even bother to follow her and instead just sit down and watch the news to find out what the hell Tina was so happy about.

Flipping through the channels I see all the stupid reality shows and I don't know wether I should punch my TV or myself. Maybe both so we both don't have to suffer. Finally making it to the news, I lay back and grab the water bottle on the coffee table. Opening up the cap and taking a sip, I listen to what's going on.

"_And now back to what's happened today. So the staff at Lopez corporations experienced a rough morning today. It's seems as though someone found a way into the building and covered the walls with pictures of well…take a look." _

The pictures pop up and I can't help but let out a series of laughs.

"_On top of the pictures being scattered all over the building, it seems as though all of the computers have been programmed to play a certain video on a continuous loop." _

"_The security staffs are looking through the security cameras and the press is being told that whoever is responsible for this will be faced with charges."_

That statement alone makes me laugh too. "Yeah, faced with charges." I repeat. At this time Tina and Ella come walking out of the room and they look at me. Tina looks to the TV and then a smile forms on her face, "The cat posters are a nice touch," Tina says.

"Thanks," I smile cheekily. A few moments later I feel the cushion next to me dip and Ella's got her head rested on my shoulder.

"That's a cute cat. Is it lost?" she asks. I shake my head and let out a soft "no". I reach for the remote and flip through the channels.

The TV changes from the image of the cat poster to an inside picture of the building. "I gotta say, it's one of my best works."

Ella turns to me and gives me a look that says, "That's not something you should be proud of," and all I can do is give her my best smile. She tries to look mad but I know she can't be mad at me. "At least tell me what the video was." She lets out.

"That video of you doing that weird dance, " I say, smiling. "What do the kids call it nowadays? Twerking?" Her eyes go wide and her jaw drops. It kind of scares me so I make a move to stand up and run but then she's grabbing my shirt collar and pulling me back down. I try to move from her but then she uses all her weight causing make me fall onto the couch on my back and she bracketing my hips in place with her knees on either side of them. "Ell, okay. Ell, Listen!" I look behind her and find Tina there just fucking standing and stifling a giggle. I make a plea with my eyes but Tina just shakes her head. Bitch.

"You promised you wouldn't show anyone that video!" she half yells.

"Yes, I did make you that promise." I tell her, trying to calm her down.

"You're an ass!" Ella says, hitting my shoulder.

"Ella—Ouch! Stop, that hurts." She continues hitting my shoulder though and I do have an unfair advantage given the fact that she's keeping me trapped from under her but I somehow find a way to grab both her wrists. "Ella, I'm kidding. There is no video of you. Swear."

"You're an ass." She states, looking away from me.

I pull her down so her face is in front of me and she has nowhere else to look but in my eyes. "I told you, I don't make promises unless I know I can follow through." I tell her. Ella lets out a scoff.

"Now you're an ass and a liar."

"I'm not lying—"

Tina's laughing brings us out of our trance I and I don't get to finish my sentence. Ella and I turn our attention to her but the only difference between me and Ella's face is that hers is more of a confused look and mine's definitely more of a rebuke. "Sorry," she apologizes but continues, "I just found it funny how you didn't even deny that you are an ass." She says, walking into the kitchen.

I roll my eyes and ignore her so I can focus on the fuming woman on top of me. She looks like she's about to slap me. I've been slapped by plenty of girls in my life time and I really don't want experience that again. When they're mad, they're extremely mad. Turns out, it's like some sort of crime to talk to two girls at once. It was news to me too.

"As I was saying," I continue and keep my grip on her wrist tight, "I'm not lying to you, Ell. You know I don't break my promises. Especially ours." I say softly.

Ella hears the softness in my voice and so she finally stops tensing. "So there's no video of me?" she asks quietly.

I shake my head no and then I feel her crawl off me and letting me sit back up. She's still staring at me and I stay quiet for a moment to let her have her time. Then after about thirty seconds, I feel a slap to my shoulder again. "Hey!"

I feel another slap to my other shoulder, "Ell! Stop! I told you there was no video of you!"

"No, I know. I'm just hitting you because you're an ass!" she says continuing. I let out a laugh and catch her arms. She finally stills and we look at each other because we now realize how impossibly close we are. When I look at her eyes they dart back and forth between my eyes and my lips. Her eyes are so green. Fuck. I know I shouldn't be looking at her like this because I know that's all I'll be able to do and I know that it won't be enough.

I know that.

So I quickly stand up and let out a cough putting some space between us. It's funny how long it's been and I yet I'm still caught up on her—actually it's more pathetic than funny really. Tina finds her way back and in the middle of an awkward silence between us just looking at each other.

"Well, I should get back home…"

"NO!" I practically yell. I don't want her to go. It's the last thing I want because once she leaves it could lead to something awkward then that leads us to actually talking about what the hell just happened and I just really hate confrontation. "Stay, please." I say looking at her. Begging her with my eyes and it seems like it's worked and Tina feels sorry for me because she's nodding her head and making her way back into the kitchen telling me to follow her.

I turn to Ella and give her a small smile before following Tina in the kitchen. Once I make it in it's like I've entered a round of twenty questions. "What the hell was that? I thought she was straight? Did you guys just have a moment? Oh, shit. Are you going to go for it?" All I can do is blink because it seems as though Tina's freaking out more than me but then I feel the beating of my heart and there's just no comparison.

"I don't know what it was. She is straight. I don't know. And no," I say answering her questions as calmly as I can.

She gives me a look that's asking "why the hell won't you go for it?" and I know she's asking that because why the hell wouldn't I? I mean she's gorgeous, yes. And she's got the best personality that I've ever seen in anyone but given that, she's also still my best friend who is straight. Tina doesn't know this but I did tell Ella that I had a thing for her eighteen months ago. She simply told me that it was cute and flattering but she only saw me as a friend and I accepted that but that didn't stop the feelings from...well…feeling. But now. Today. Things just got all kinds of confusing and if Tina thinks she's confused, she should see how my brain's processing because what just happened not even two minutes ago with me and Ella just contradicted what she said to me eighteen months ago.

I squeeze my eyes shut really hard for a moment before letting out a deep breath. "Okay, okay, okay." I mumble to myself. I have to get it together and be reasonable. There was just probably something on my lip which is why she kept on looking at them. I can't think about this right now. Well, actually I prefer not to think about it at all. I mean, she told me how she felt and I said okay. So there's nothing to talk about.

"San?" I look up from the floor and see Tina staring at me. "Look—"

Tina gets interrupted by soft footsteps and then we see Ella. "Hey," she says quietly. I look at her and give her a small smile, "I'll be back. Dad just called and he wants to see me."

I give her a nod and I watch her as she makes her way out of the apartment. Once the door closes, I feel a slap to the head. "Ow," I say rubbing the place that she just hit. "What the hell T,"

"You totally just checked her out!"

"Well, yeah, it's a nice view." I tell her shrugging my shoulder because she does have a nice butt. "Just because she's not into me doesn't mean I have to stop checking her out. That's all I'm allowed to do at this point."

"Well, I think she's into you. Tbh."

I move my gaze away from the door and look at Tina, "Did you just seriously say 'tbh', like out loud?" I ask, laughing.

"Shut up. You are an ass." She says, hitting my shoulder and rolling her eyes. "So what was the video anyway?"

"Oh, yeah! Follow me." I tell her. I make my way into my room looking for my backpack and spot it in the corner of the room. I pull out my laptop and find the video I'm looking for. Double clicking on the video, it pops up and I turn the volume up, although it's not really necessary. A video of a cat rolling around playing with yarn. I hear giggling from behind me and when I turn around I see Tina covering her mouth, stifling a laugh. "You know you could laugh. It's adorably, funny." I tell her.

"That's the video? What's up with you and cats?" she asks, looking at me.

"My dad hates cats and what better way to get his attention than this?" I say, shrugging my shoulder and closing my laptop.

"That makes a lot of sense now." Tina says walking out of my room. I follow her out and she's making her way to the door. "I have to get home, and you have to talk to Artie about next week." With that, she's out the door and I slump myself back down on the couch. It's now only 8:30 and I think I need a little nap before I do anything today. Which, I might add is quite ridiculous since I woke up not even an hour ago.

* * *

I wake up to the feel of a hand running through my hair. I let out a yawn and rub my eyes before finally allowing them to open. Even so, it's still blurry but the lack of bifocals doesn't stop me from assuming who it is. Through the fuzziness I can make out brown hair and green eyes; my assumption is proven correctly because now my glasses are being placed on my face and Ella is on the floor, and sitting in front of me because I'm still lying on the couch. I move to sit up and stretch my arms above my head. "Hey," she says.

"Hey," I let out. She stands up and sits next to me. I throw my arms behind her and she snuggles closer to me. "How are your parents?"

"Still the same." She whispers closing her eyes and letting out a yawn. I look at her and realize that she probably hasn't had enough sleep either; from her plane ride, to coming over to see me and then visiting her parents so I just let her rest while I hold her.

Ella falls asleep in no time and I stay seated on the couch for a moment before my phone starts going off. I slowly untangle her arms from around me and lay her gently on the sofa, placing a pillow under her head. She mumbles a little but then her breathing is evening out again.

I make my way to the kitchen where my phone is lying on the island. I don't even check who it is and instead just pick up. "Hello?" I whisper.

"Why are you whispering?" Puck asks.

"Ell's sleeping." I tell him. I hear ruffling on the other side, he's probably moving around; and then I hear Puck's voice again.

"Ell? She's back?" he asks louder this time.

"Yeah—" but before I can even explain any further, Puck's already jumped to conclusions.

"Holy shit, did you sleep with her? What is she doing there? Dude, you gotta get your shit together and stop waiting for her to come around."

I shake my head even though I know Puck can't see me. I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of nose. "...No I didn't sleep with her, Puck. And I'm not waiting for anything." I tell him. And okay. That might be a bit of a lie and Puck knows it, I'm just waiting for him to call me out on it.

"Bullshit." There it is. "Both you and I know that." He states. I let out a sigh because there's really no point in denying it. With Puck, he actually thinks the opposite of Tina. He thinks that I should distance my self from Ella. "You sleep with other girls, sure, but you never let yourself get close to a girl. It's waiting for something. Her being here, with you, it's not a good idea. You know I love Ell, but I'm just trying to look out for you. When she's around, it's like she's the only thing your mind takes into account."

Before I say anything, I turn back to look at Ella still sleeping silently on the couch. Not wanting to wake her up, I walk towards my bedroom. "Listen Puck," I start. I really have no idea what to say to him though. When it comes to the subject of Ella, it's something that I tend to get tongue tied over. Not intentionally of course but it's happened so many times, it's almost as if it's a reflex. "Ell, I love her. I do, she's my best friend. Both you and I know that, and both you and I know that she doesn't feel the same and sure, I'm hurt, but I know when to back off. I don't do feelings so it's better on my part right?"

"Right." Puck says agreeing with me. "Don't set yourself up for a disappointment, just find someone else. Wait-you know what? I don't think you should even be looking, you just need to have fun San. " After he stops talking, I listen to what he's says and apart of me thinks he's using this as an excuse for him to also have more fun but then again, his reasoning also makes sense.

"Okay," I answer.

"Okay?" He asks, sounding a little surprised.

"Yeah," I confirm.

"Okay, so what better way to have fun than going out for drinks?" Puck suggests.

Shit, I knew he was leading up to something.

"I can't, I have work."

"You work at the bar, and you get off at 9 so I'll just meet you there. I'll ask Mike if he wants to go." He says, and before I can even say anything else, Puck's hung up. He knows me too well. If we were on the phone any longer, I'd give him a hundred excuses on why I can't make it tonight.

Letting out a sigh, I throw my phone on the couch. I guess I should take a shower. I still have to go meet up with Artie.

* * *

Walking out of the shower, I have this refreshing feeling and my eyes are finally able to stay open. I guess that cold shower helped a lot. Fully clothed, I walk out of my room and Ella's not lying on the couch anymore. Instead I see the back of her as she's looking inside the fridge. I bring my hand to scratch the back of my neck before letting out a chuckle, "Whatever it is that you're looking for, it's probably not in there."

She turns around abruptly, looking surprise but then her facial features are back to calm when it's just me. "Yeah, you have absolutely nothing in here. Not even butter." She states.

"What do you need butter for?" I ask, smiling.

"Nothing, I was just commenting," she says, returning the smile.

"Are you hungry?" I ask moving closer to her. She's about to shake her head and say no, I just know it. So instead of letting her answer, I just grab her hand, and pull her towards the door. "C'mon, breakfast's on me."

We put on our shoes and are headed down the stairs. I see some of my neighbors; most of them go to school at UCLA, which is where I'm going now. I think going to college is probably the only thing that I've done to make my dad proud but even then, he was disappointed that I turned down Columbia for UCLA.

Yeah, I'm not the favorite child.

I pull Ella down the stairs with me and we exit the building and make our way to where my bike is. As I approach it I pull out my keys and start it up. There's only one helmet so I just hand it over to Ella. She puts it on and then she's straddling the bike behind me and we make our way to the diner.

We finally make it there and our waitress seems really friendly. Well, to me, at least. It's around afternoon already but who gives a fuck? I'm starving, and I want some damn waffles. We get seated immediately and now I'm sitting across from Ella in a booth. You'd think it'd be a little weird because of what happened earlier, but with the big smile she's giving me from her seat, it's like what happened earlier never happened. It's undeniably cute and I can't stop a smile from forming on my face.

She bites her bottom lip and averts her gaze down to the menu to hide her redden cheeks. I let out a chuckle but before any of us can say anything, the waitress returns and she takes our order. As she makes her way back into the kitchen to put our order in, Ella watches her walk away until she's far enough. When she's about a good twenty feet away, Ella looks at me and she finally speaks up. "She totally likes you."

Although that's the last thing that I'd expect to come out of her mouth, I'm glad we're at least talking about something. I sit up straighter in my booth and bring my hands up on the table. Quirking my eyebrow, I ask her to explain what she's talking about. Ella takes a sip of her coffee and tilts her head to the waitress that's behind me, "She's been drooling over you the same way that you've been drooling over that guy's waffle." Ella states with a small smile.

I laugh at that comment because I thought I was being rather slick, looking at that guy's food. I guess not. "Wow, I must look delicious this afternoon." I comment with a cheeky smile. Ella rolls her eyes but the smile still stays planted on her face. Just as I say that, our food is being placed in front of us by said, waitress. "Thanks," I say, turning to her. She smiles back and asks if I need anything else. I look at Ella but she just shakes her head so I turn back to the waitress, "No, I think everything looks good." She nods her head and makes her way back to where I believe is the kitchen.

"Seriously, San. She keeps looking here every ten-seconds." I turn around to look at the waitress and I'm not going to lie, she's pretty, but so are a lot of other girls. So I just shrug my shoulders before turning back around and take a sip of my coffee. "She's pretty." Ella comments.

I nod my head in agreement, "She is," I say placing my cup down. "Nice legs too." I comment, smiling while looking up at Ella.

She rolls her eyes and whispers something but it's too noisy around us for me to hear. I ignore it. She would've repeated it if she really wanted me to know something. We start eating and we chat and catch up. There were a couple times when things were things were sort of awkward because there was a topic on if I was seeing anyone and when I told her no, she just looked down and nodded. I didn't know what else to say so I just sat there. Eventually we went back to just talking about her trip.

When it was time to pay for the bill, I grabbed the check before she could say anything. Even though I told her breakfast was on me, Ella tends to get just not listen to that part. She smiles when I grab the check, "Fine, I'll leave the tip then." She says pulling out her wallet. I reach across the table and grab her wallet.

"Ell, I got it. Everything's on me." I tell her. Her smile gets wider and then she's nodding her head saying, "okay." I pull out my card and when the waitress comes back with my receipt, I pick it up to get a closer look. From behind it, I can see Ella head turn kind of sideways. "What are you looking at?" I chuckle.

Ella pulls the receipt away from my hand and it seems like she's reading some writing on the back. Her eyebrows raise a little and her lips pinch to one side. I smile at her because it's kind of adorable. But then her confusion turns into more of a frown. "So apparently her name is Cindy and she wants you to call her." Ella says handing me my piece of paper. I take it from her hand and take a look myself. I let out a chuckle and shake my head, putting the receipt in my pocket. When I look back at Ella she's got her eyebrows raised. "What?" I smile.

"So I take it you're going to call her," Ella asks, standing up.

"Huh-Oh no. Well, I don't think so. I just need to keep track of how much I've been spending. You know my mom gets really upset if I don't manage my money well." I move out of the booth. I'm being completely honest too. I mean, I'm still in college and sure I work and everything but my mom still puts money in my bank account so she's also able to check on how much I spend and stuff. Though, judging by the look that Ella's giving me, she doesn't believe a single thing I'm saying so I just shrug my shoulders. We making our way out of the diner but just as I reach the door, I hear the waitress call out, "Have a nice day." I smile to myself before turning around and meeting her eyes, "Thanks, you too."

I see her cheeks turn a shade of pink but before I manage to get another word out, I feel a tug on my arm and now i'm standing outside of the diner. "C'mon Casanova, I don't want to wait hours upon hours while you flirt it up with Cindy there." Ella says still tugging me by the arm. I let out a laugh and move my arm out of her grip and throw it behind her shoulders pulling her closer to me.

"I didn't want to 'flirt it up' with Cindy anyways,"

Ella has curiosity etched across her face, "And why is that?"

I shrug my shoulders, "Just don't wanna."

"There's gotta be a reason why."

"Nah, not really." We finally make it to where my bike is parked and I pick up my helmet, placing it on her, "Safety first." I smirk. Even though I can't see her facial features, i knows she smiling because she lets out a giggle. I climb onto the bike. Ella follows after me and we make our way back to my apartment.

* * *

"So, what are you doing today?" Ella asks jumping on the sofa.

"Well, I gotta go meet up with Artie in a bit then I have work and then after work Puck says he's taking me to a bar or something. He says I need a night of fun whatever the hell that means." I say walking into my room. I grab my backpack and all the cables and wires and discs I need to bring to Artie's. "What about you?" I half yell from my room, loud enough for her to hear.

"…Well, the plan was to hang out with you for the day but I guess you have plans already so I'll just hang around here." she answers. I couldn't really hear what she was saying. I mean I heard bits and pieces of it but overall it just sounded like mumbling. I grab my UCLA sweater from inside my closet and throw my backpack over my shoulders so it's hooked on my back. I walk back out to living room and see Ella looking at me, "I'm sorry, what? I couldn't hear a thing." I explain, sitting down next to her.

She lets out a small laugh before repeating what she said earlier. I feel bad for just leaving her alone here after she came back but I don't think she'd really enjoy going to Artie's because all we really do is work with tech stuff, I can't take her to work, and I don't think Puck would appreciate it if I brought her out with us tonight. The reason for us going out was to get my mind off her. I think she knows that I'm thinking about this because I suddenly I see a hand waving in front of me and she's smiling, "It's okay San. Tomorrow can be our 'SantElla day' , you don't work right?"

"SantElla day?" I chuckle and scratch the back of my neck, "Actually, tomorrow, I have something to do until 3 but we can hang out after that? Then you can have me all day Sunday."

"Great! I'll see you when you get back from Artie's then?" Ella asks hopeful.

"Maybe," I say standing up, "It's probably going to take us awhile to finish this project up for class" I lie. I'm not lying about it taking it awhile though, It will probably take hours so I'll have to just end up going straight to work afterwards. I stand up and when I look down, I see Ella looking up at me. A small smile creeps on my face and I lean down to place a kiss on her forehead, "I'll see you later," I mumble.

Ella lets out a sigh, "Okay." And I know she's kind of disappointed that I probably won't be back until I'm done hanging out with Puck but when I think about earlier, it makes sense. I need to learn to distance myself. I grab my keys from the table and walk out of my apartment room. Right when I close the door, my phone rings. I roll my eyes and answer the phone without taking a second to look at the number.

"What?" I ask.

"Santana! I really hope that isn't the way you answer all your phone calls."

"Oh, fuck-"

"Language, Mija." My mom chastises.

I pinch the bridge of my nose, "Ma, I'm 21." I sigh.

"I know how old you are Mija." she says.

I continue making my way down the hall and I run into Quinn as I'm on the first floor. She smiles at me, "Hey,"

I smile back and wave to her but then I hear my mom's voice again, "I was calling to see if you could come home for dinner tonight. Andrew's flying in from Seattle and he's bringing Lydia."

Andrew's my older brother. He was that sibling that did everything right you know? He was the overachiever and he went to Yale for law. Everything that my dad wanted but at the same time, he was one of the best things about my childhood. He was always the only person that ever kept his word to me. Always. He was at every single one of my soccer games, cheer competitions and glee competitions because my mom and dad were always out of town. He was more of a parent to me than our actual parents.

So when my mom told me that he was in town I was torn between seeing him and not seeing my dad. On the line my mother continued talking and going on and on about reasons why I should be at the dinner but I just couldn't do it. "Sorry, Ma, I don't I can make it tonight."

"Come tomorrow then." She suggests. "They'll be here the whole week."

"I can't. Ella's back and she wants to spend the day together." I explain. "…and I've got so many things going on with school, mom. I don't think I have time for it." I tell her. So, I was half truthful but what she doesn't know won't hurt her.

"Just one day, Santana. That's all I'm asking for. I just want to have a real family dinner. With all of us." She sighs. Yeah, so she knows I'm lying. I finally make it to my bike and stop completely. Man, this is not how this day was supposed to go.

"Mom, I really don't know if I can make it. I'll let you know throughout the week okay?"

"Okay, I'm not taking that as a 'no'," my mom says, sounding a lot happier. "-and if you do decide to stop by, please tell me so i can send someone to get you." she says sighing, "That motorcycle of yours is just so dangerous. Oh, Honey your father's calling me, I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Yeah, mom."

"Love you, Mija."

"Mhmmm" I hum. With that I hang up the phone. Shit, I need to find a great deal of new excuses for this week. I run my through my hair before placing my helmet on and heading out to Artie's.

* * *

"Abrams! I'm here!" I yell.

I hear the lock click and I know that's my cue to open the door. "Saw the news this morning, and all I can say is genius." He says laughing. Artie if you didn't know is the genius behind all the technical stuff that happens. We'd met Sophomore year in class and ever since then, It's been like a partner in crime relationship, I suppose. Sometimes I wanna punch the kid and sometimes I wanna give him a pat on the back.

"You don't know how much money I'd pay to see my dad's face." I chuckle, unzipping my backpack. I pull out my laptop, placing it in front of him.

"Okay, so what is it we're trying to do here?" Artie questions.

"I need to you to find out the security code to his office, then I need you to find out the passcode to his computer." I tell him.

"You gonna fill me in what your genius plan is or am I going to have to watch the news to find out again?" Artie laughs.

"Well, you know, everyone just looks so tired there, I just want to be able to grant them something they're all scared to ask for." I explain with a smirk.

"Dude, I have no idea what you're talking about so I'll just check it out on the news." he says, typing away.

"And I gotta go do my thing so I'll be back in about an hour." I say throwing my backpack over my shoulder. "Call me if ya need me." I say closing the door behind me.

I make my way out of his apartment building and make my way to my destination.

The ride takes longer than I figured it would because of the heavy traffic, so now I know I have a time limit. I finally make it though. Pulling my helmet off, I run my hand through my hair and look up at the skyscraper in front of me. I search through my backpack searching for my lanyard. I take off my hoodie and place the lanyard around my neck. As I walk through, I see security everywhere but they're not my dads' personal security so I'm okay with that. "What's going on here?" I ask with a smile.

"Security check. It's for everyone." One of them says. "Can I see you're employee card?' I nod handing him the white card attached to my lanyard and he scans it through the system. "We're going to need to check you're backpack, ma'am." He says gesturing to it.

"Talk about privacy nowadays huh?" I joke but he doesn't laugh. I let out a cough before handing him my bag. He looks through it thoroughly, and when I say thoroughly, I mean it. He checked every square inch of my bag, taking everything out and even checking my hoodie. He looks up at me giving me a look that says, _"You're suspicious."_ But he had nothing on me cause I literally had nothing in the bag. I smile at him and shrug my shoulders. "Can I get to work, or do you need to do a double check on my backpack?" I ask, voice laced with annoyance.

He hand me back my bag, "Sorry about that, but we're just following orders." I mentally roll my eyes before letting out a hum, "Sure." He moves out of the way and I make my way through. Entering the elevator, I check my watch to see that I've only got ten minutes to do this. I run my hand through my hair and start tapping my foot against the floor. It's sort of a habit that's developed recently when I'm nervous and shit. The sound of the elevator door sliding open brings me back and I make my way out. I make it to the security room and pull out the key that Artie made for me. It's extremely useful really. I can essentially get to any room or office…except for my dad's that is. Otherwise I honestly wouldn't be here right now.

I make it in the room and relieved to find that it's empty. I pull my phone out from in my back pocket. I remove the case and pull out a slim blade that I've hidden in there before making my way here. Making my way behind the monitors, I see heaps of wires. "Fuck." I mutter. Which ones am I supposed to cut? Fuck it, I'm just going to cut all of them.

And that's what I did. I cut all the wires connecting to the monitor screens. I finish in no time because there really was no thought process put into it. "Easy as pie." I say to myself. I stand up and make my way to the door, but as I'm about to open it, I hear talking from the other side.

Shit they're back early.

* * *

Hey guys! I posted this earlier but I found out I didn't edit it quite well! Initially 'Ella' was 'Sophie' but I just didn't like it really so I went back through all of the chapters that have been written and changed the name. This one is the updated one (obviously lol) and I tried to go through it again and fix what I could so if there are still errors, I apologize. Thank you!


	3. Chapter 3

**I apologize ahead of time for my mistakes.**

* * *

Fuck. I still had five minutes.

Voices on the other side become clearer so I know they're right outside the door. Of course the one time security wants to fucking be early for their shift, I'm stuck in here with no where to hide. Screw it. I'm gonna make a run for it. Quickly I pull my hoodie out from inside my back pack and put it on, pulling the hoodie over my head.

I hear the card swipe through and then slowly the door becomes ajar, but just a little and right then, I'm just thinking about how I'm going to explain this to my boss and Ella but the door slamming close gets my attention. My eyebrows scrunch in confusion. I walk towards the door slowly, because anything can happen and I have to be prepared.

Making it close enough to the door, I place my ear against it listening to the conversation.

_"Hey, we still have four minutes until the shift, and I heard there are some free donuts on the 10th floor. I think we can make it." _

_"I don't know man, four minutes isn't that long." _

_"There's free coffee too." _

It's silent for a second, I suppose because of the fact that he's thinking this over.

_"I'd be an idiot for turning down a meal. Let's go. But we gotta hurry back, Mr. Lopez wants tighter security." _

You had no idea how hard it was for me not to scoff at that statement, but I had to keep it in. Idiot securities. This was like God's gift to me.

_"Okay, Lets go." _

Pressing my ear closer against the door, I hear their footsteps getting softer and softer the further they get. When it's completely silent, I gently open the door and stick my head out first to see if there is anyone else in the hallway. Thank God it's clear cause this is not normal. I make my way outside into the hallway and I continue walking until I get into the restroom.

When I enter, there's a woman standing in front of the mirror fixing her makeup. She looks at me before rolling her eyes and returning her attention to the mirror. Bitch. I make my way to a stall waiting until miss sunshine over there to finish whatever the hell she's doing.

It doesn't take that long until I hear her heels move against the floor and the door opening and closing. Stepping outside the stall I check to see if anyone else is in here. When it's clear, I make my way to the handicap stall. Standing in front of the toilet paper holder, I try my best to keep it silent while I pry it off the wall. Yesterday when I was here, I specifically hid some things that I would need today behind a tile.

Once off, I gently place it on the floor. Noticing which tile it is immediately I pull it out from the wall. All of the things that I need is secured in a bag. Pulling it out, I place them inside my bag and make my way to the top floor. Upon entering the elevator, it's empty and to say that I'm impatient is an understatement because now I have about ten minutes to find the camera and cover it up. I pace around in the small space thinking of different scenarios that can happen within the next half hour.

The door dings and I calm my self down because now isn't the time to look suspicious. Straightening up I pull my backpack tighter against my back and walk out. I smile to a few people that pass me in going the opposite direction. Approaching the desk, I tell the receptionist that I have an appointment with 'Mr. Lopez', she nods her head before checking her computer.

"What's the name to the appointment, ma'am?" She asks not even bothering to look up.

"Uh, Castillo. Emily Castillo." I say remembering the name that I told Artie to put down for the appointment.

She lets out a hum and then she finally looks up from her computer. We make eye contact and fuck. I've seen this girl before but I just don't know where. And it seems she's seen me before too because her eyes are just drowning with curiosity. I try not to make it seem noticeable that I'm nervous and keep my eyes on her. "You-Haven't I-Never mind." She says shaking her head, "He's to the right just down the hall" she says slowly. I give her a smile, nod my head, and move towards the hall.

When I finally make it to the hallway that leads to my dad's office, it's empty which is also kind of expected because growing up, sometimes I had to stay here for hours and this specific hallway would always be empty. Walking down, I spot exactly what I'm looking for. Security camera. I stay close to the wall to avoid being caught on video. But if anyone were to walk by right now, I'd look suspicious as fuck so I have to get this done fast. I put my backpack down and pull out the electrical tape, cutting a little piece with the blade I had earlier. I look up and thank god the cameral isn't all the way up there. I stand on the tip of my toes and cover just the lens. Yeah, it's stupid 'cause I already cut the wires connected to the monitors but just because they're not seen on monitors doesn't mean that they stop recording.

After doing that, I find the small screw driver in my backpack and quickly unscrew the two heads holding the camera up. When it falls into my hand I place it inside my backpack and replace it with a different security camera that Artie gave me a couple days ago. I give the screw driver one last twist so it's secured on the right place and pack up my things before packing up my things and moving quickly in the opposite direction.

I pass the girl in the desk from earlier and she stops me, "Leaving already?"

"Uh, yeah." I say rubbing the back of my neck and looking at my shoes. I'm pretty sure if she sees me again, she's going to remember me. "My…uh…my...my fish is sick." I say quietly.

I quickly glance up before looking back down, "Bye." I mumble and quickly make my way to the elevator. I step in the elevator and just when the door closes I let out a frustrated groan because that has got to be the worst excuse ever. I rub my eyes with the heel of my hand I don't even bother to open my eyes as the door dings signaling that I've finally made it to the first floor. I walk out with my eyes still closed and just as I open them, I see security running around everywhere with people lining up to leave. I make my way to the front of the line earning a few glares from the others. "Hey, why are you doing security checks? We're just leaving." I ask the security guard from earlier.

I knew it couldn't be this easy.

"There were some issues dealing with security and Mr. Lopez is requiring security checks whether you're entering or leaving."

Rolling my eyes I turn around and make my way back. I should've seen this coming. But just as I say that, a light bulb goes off on my head. I remember there being a back entrance that no one ever uses. My feet start moving even before I know it, and on the way run into a couple people but I just brush it off. Just as I approach it I see security standing there. Fuck.

They can't get my backpack. It has everything in there. I mean what's more suspicious then finding a security camera in someone's backpack? Yeah. Fuck it. I make my way to where everyone is again. Standing in line, there are a couple guys in front of me, a blonde haired guy and a brown haired guy, and another idea pops into my head again. I stand behind the guy on the right with the brown hair and tap his shoulder and just before he turns around I swiftly move from behind him causing him to look around before looking at the guy next to him. He rolls his eyes but then returns his attention to the front. I move back behind the same guy again, taping him in the exact same place. And again, I move out of the way. This time though, the out come is different and exactly what I wanted it to be.

The guy on the right huffs, turns to the guy on the left and starts going off. "You probably think you are so hilarious, huh?" he asks sarcastically.

"What are you talking about?" the blonde guy asks, obviously confused.

"Oh real good acting." He says before once again, turning around and putting his full attention to the line moving.

Well, third times the charm right? I move slowly behind the guy on the right again and tap in on his shoulder again.

I move out of the way and everything just happened so fast I had to blink my eyes a couple times. I hear a grunt and I look behind me to see the brown haired guy on top of the blonde guy and throwing punches in every direction possible.

I feel a set of eyes on me and turn to my right to see another man staring at me. I give him a shrug. "That escalated quickly."

The other employees crowd around the two guys and it's just like as if it were a fight going on in the cafeteria in a typical high school. The people get pushed aside by the security that just realized something else is going on besides their little security routine. As they both make their way to pull the guys apart, I make a run for the exit. Just as I run past the metal detector, a sound goes off and then there's a security chasing after me, but I've got a good distance from him and my bike is just right outside.

Moving swiftly, I dig in my pants pocket for my keys and just as I approach it, I feel them in my back pocket. I don't even bother with my helmet instead I just step on it and twist my wrist to get the vehicle moving and fast at that. I hear yelling from behind me but I speed up ignoring it, not even bothering to look back.

I do circles around town to make sure there isn't anyone following me before arriving back at Artie's .

I make it do his door and enter without even bothering to knock.

"Well hello there." Artie says rolling his way to me. "You look like shit. What happened?"

I don't answer yet, instead make my way to his fridge and pullout a water bottle, twisting the cap open and taking a big gulp.

"Ran into trouble at the building." I say, still a little breathless. "Here." I hand him the security camera from the hallway.

Artie nods his head. "Oh, I got everything you need for tomorrow." He says handing me a piece of paper. I nod and take the paper from his hand. "Just stop by tomorrow to pick this up." He says lifting up the camera. "It should be done."

"Thanks." I say. "Oh! Puck, Mike and I are going out tonight. Wanna join?" I ask. I think the kid needs to let loose too. Maybe get him someone to talk to. He's cool and everything but sometimes Artie gets too serious. And I think part of the reason why he avoids going out so much because everywhere he goes, people just look at him because of his disability. It's like people have never seen anyone in a wheel chair before. I mean it annoys the shit out of me when I see people just blatantly staring at him, so yeah. I look at him and I can tell his answer is swinging towards not going. "Dude, come on. It'll be fun."

Artie lets out a sigh, "Fine, sure. What time?"

"Probably around 9 so, just meet us at Sylvester's." I tell him.

"Wait, why are we meeting at you're work place?" he asks.

"I'm working and so we're just going to hang out there after I get off the clock. Just convenient." I answer, honestly.

"Okay." He says hesitantly. "Puck won't be like...an ass, will he?" I mean I get why he's asking this because sure, Puck's an ass, but he's just a plain dick when he messes with Artie. I mean, it's probably because Artie never says anything back to him, but if he says shit to me or Mike, we just shut him up.

"Puck's always an ass," I chuckle. "Just pay him no mind. Alright." I say checking my watch. "I should get going. Mike's gonna be pissed if I'm late." I say walking towards the door and reaching for the door knob. Before completely leaving I turn back around. "Thanks again." I tell him. He smiles and nods. I know it's weird to do that but sometimes I feel like it doesn't hurt to tell people twice.

I leave the building and make my way to Sylvester's.

* * *

The moment I step inside the bar, I look at my watch and I'm right on time. I look back up and see that the place is packed. "Santana!" Mike spots me and waves me over from behind the bar. I rush over squeezing my way in between people to get through.

I get behind the bar and before I even remove my jacket Mike's telling me drinks to make and get. "I need an Apple Martini, Cosmopolitan, two Bud Lights and a Heineken." He yells over the crowd of people at the bar. I nod and quickly remove my jacket quickly before starting to make the drinks. It's packed and with every drink that I handed to the people, Mike kept on telling me more and more drinks to make. It finally started to slow down at around 8.

I throw a towel over my shoulder and lean on the table behind me. "Dude, I've never experienced a rush like that before." I tell Mike next to me. He nods his head telling me the same.

It started picking up again at around 8:30 and by 8:50 Kitty and Jake arrive for their shift. Me and Mike quickly make all the drinks that we need to before stepping out from the back entrance because it's too crowded if we were to leave to the inside of the bar. We step outside and I'm tired as hell. I dig through my jacket as we round the building and pull out a cigarette. I raise the lighter up to it and I can see Mike eyeing me. "I didn't know you smoked." He says nonchalantly.

I shrug. "I don't really smoke. Only when it's stressful. The burn takes the attention away from everything else going on." I tell him. I offer the cigarette to him and he looks at me and shrugs his shoulder before taking it from my hands. He chokes a little and I pat his back letting out a chuckle. "Tina's going to kick your ass." As we make it to the front, I see Puck walking up to us with Artie rolling next to him.

"Should we stay here or go to another bar?" he asks. Hands in his pocket. I shrug because I really don't care. I didn't even want to go out in the first place. I finish the cig put it out and throw it away.

"It's getting busy but it's not super crazy." Mike tells Puck. He nods his head. "Lets just stay here, this is where I always get lucky anyways." Puck says raising his eyebrows and smirks.

I roll my eyes before following Puck and Mike inside. Me and Artie following behind. I feel a tap to my arm and look down at Artie. "What's up?"

"Uh, I've never been to a bar before." Artie says loud enough for us to hear. My eyes widen a little bit but I'm not completely surprise. "Nothing to worry about," I say patting his shoulders, "We're just out to have fun."

Artie nods his head and continues to move into the bar. As soon as we step in Puck finds us a table and I go up to order our drinks. I step up, hands in my jacket and smile on my face, Kitty steps in front of Jake and smiles back at me. "Hey, San." She greets.

"Hey, Kitty," I say, taking one of my hands out of my pockets and waving to her. "Uh, can I get 4 shots of Kamikaze and we'll also take four Bud Lights, please."

She smiles at me before leaning over the bar, "Do you have an ID with you?" she teases.

I laugh at her, "That's cute."

I make my way back to where the guys are and take a seat next to Mike. "Dude, what time is your curfew?" I question him.

"Tina said the latest is midnight...but preferred I be home at eleven. So in her terms, if I arrive after eleven, I am sleeping on the couch." He says laughing but we all know that Tina is serious about shit like that. She's crazy.

Our drinks arrive Puck rubs his hands together. "Shots!"

Me and Mike laugh and we all grab one shot. I look at Artie, "Just drown it, it'll burn but it'll feel good." I tell him. He nods, understanding.

"One, two, three!"

We drown our drinks and my eyes close shut from the burn that made it's way to my body. I hear laughing and my eyes open and see that they're looking at Artie. "Dude, you guys enjoy drinking this?" he says making the funniest face. Puck hits his back causing him to cough. "It'll go down smoothly after a couple more shots, Rookie."

Puck orders more shots. And when I say more shots, I mean a lot more shots. Once we've downed our third round of shots, we start to enjoy our time more. We're all laughing and talking and the guys are drinking beer but I decide against it. When our fourth round of shots come and I'm about to down it, I feel a hand on my shoulder and quickly jerk back and look up.

"Blondie?"

"Brittany but wow, I almost like 'Sweetheart' better." She says. It's that News reporter from yesterday. The bitchy one? Yep her. I know her name, of course, but where's the fun in that? I turn to Puck and he's raising his eye brows before standing up and making his way to Brittany.

"Hello, I don't believe we've met before. Name's Puck." He says smirking and bringing his hand out for her to shake.

"Hi, I'm Brittany." She says shaking his hand but oblivious to his real intentions and returns her attention to me. "Excuse me guys, but uh, can I borrow…"

"Santana?" Puck finishes for her.

"Yes, Santana! Can I talk to her for a moment?"

Before I can even shake my head no, Puck's pulling me up and pushing me towards the blonde. She smiles at Puck and links her arm through mine. I let out a groan when she tells me to sit down by the bar. As soon as I sit down, Kitty's in front of me, smiling and asking if she can get me anything. "Can I get a Bud Light?" she nods before walking away, swaying her hips. All I can do is shamelessly watch because I'm still human here.

I hear a scoff from besides me and turn around to be met with the same girl from yesterday. "What is she? Like 18?"

"Uh, 19, I believe actually." I answer really thinking about it.

"Whatever. I need to ask you some questions." She says taking a seat next to me.

"I'd like my lawyer present first, Sweetheart."

"Stop being a smartass." She rolls her eyes but when she pinches her lip to one side I know she's trying to prevent a smile from forming on her face. "Brittany, huh? So that's your name."

"What were you doing at the Lopez Building today?" she asks, getting straight to the point.

Her question catches me off guard. What the hell. Was she spying on me? "Were you spying on me?" I repeat, but this time out loud.

She crosses her arms over her chest. "No. I was spying but not on you." She explains.

I nod my head. "Alright, you asked me a question. Now I'm gonna go back to my friends." I say standing up.

She grabs my arm before I can walk away, "You never answered my question."

"Never said I would." I say shrugging. I move closer to her so our faces are just mere inches apart. "Now, can you please let go," I whisper. "…because other Blondie over there looks like he's about to punch me if you don't." I say referring to the guy sitting a couple chairs away from us, glaring at me. I think it was her cameraman from yesterday. She loosens the grip she has on my arm but then moves to grab my hand. "Please just answer me." She begs. And I almost cave. Almost because those puppy dogs eyes but then a beer is placed in front of me.

I look to my left and give Kitty a smile. "Thanks." I grab the beer with my free hand and turn to Brittany. "Listen, I really can't tell you Blondie. I'm just here to have a good night with my friends." I look at the hand that she has locked on my hand as if asking her to let go. She lets out a sigh before letting go.

I walk back to the table and see a girl already sitting in my seat talking to Puck. I roll my eyes a little and in that same moment, my phone goes off. I look at the bright screen and the name _'Ella' _pops up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, San. Um…don't hate me but I lost the keys and I can't get back in to the apartment."

To be honest, I can't help but laugh. "How'd you lose the keys?"

"Well, I wanted to be nice and stuff so I went to the grocery store to fill up you're refrigerator so I can make you something when you get back because I'm amazing like that and obviously the only thing that's in you're system right now is alcohol, which is really bad by the-"

"Ell," I interrupt her because she tends make a one minute story into an hour.

She lets out a sigh, "Okay, so, long story short, I lost them somewhere in the store." She mumbles.

I let out another laugh. I'm not even mad about it cause it's just funny. "Okay, let me let the guys know and I'll be there in like 10." We say our 'byes' and hang up the phone. I make my way to where Mike, Puck and Artie are and see that Artie's even started talking to a girl.

"Guys, Ell's locked herself out so I gotta go help her." Mike nods in understanding. Artie looks at me like he wants me to stay but also understands. Puck's a whole different story. He's narrowing his eyes at me and stands up telling the girl that he'll be back. He stands in front of me with a look that's tells me that he's waiting for me to explain. I shrug my shoulders and stuff my hands in my jacket because what's there to explain. The girl's locked herself out, I'm not going to make her wait an hour until I'm done because I'm not even really doing anything right now.

"Dude, you keep on dropping shit just for her. She's not your girlfriend, she's a big girl and she can handle herself." He tells me calmly.

I look at him like he's got three heads. "Did you not hear what I said? She. Locked. Herself. Out." I tell him exasperated.

"Maybe that's a sign that she's not even supposed to be there at all." He counters back. See, with Puck he means well, but sometimes he says shit without thinking and it just makes him so irritating.

I pinch the bridge of my nose because I'm about 2.5 seconds away from punching him. "Do you hear yourself right now? You _want _me to stay, but she _needs _me to go. I'm not going to make her wait an hour just so I can drink some more while she's carrying fucking groceries."

Puck shrugs his shoulder telling me that he still doesn't agree with me leaving.

"I don't care if she was just my roommate, my friend, my best friend, or my girlfriend. I'm doing this because I'm being a decent human being." With that, I leave. As I make my way out, I see some people looking at me but I really don't care at this point.

I step out and the cold fresh air hits me. I pull out another cigarette because well…I can. The contrast of the fresh air and the nicotine entering my body is like a good kind of sting. I sit down on the bench closing my eyes and enjoying how it's quiet but you can still faintly hear the sound of music coming from the bar.

"You really shouldn't smoke."

My eyes remain shut, but I know exactly who it is.

"Yeah, well, we all do things we really shouldn't do."


	4. Chapter 4

I stay seated on the bench waiting for her to take the spot next to me because I know she wants to. She still wants me to answer that damn question but I'm just not going to do it. "Listen, I'm not going to tell you why I was at the Lopez building okay?"

"I wasn't going to ask-"

"Yeah, you were." I tell her knowingly. Nowadays people usually have some ulterior motive behind what their doing, they're not doing things just because. I let out a huff and bring the cigarette up to my lips again. But just as it makes contact, it's gone. Brittany takes it from my mouth and throws it on the ground. I look down at it just in time to see her crush the bud with her shoes.

I don't even bother with it. I just stand up, stuff my hands in the pockets of my jacket and start walking to my bike.

"Where are you going?"

I stop walking and turn around to face her. "Well, seeing as you just threw away my last one, I'm going to get another one, smoke it in peace without the presence of person that will throw away my cigarette, and then I'm going to go home."

"You shouldn't smoke." She says crossing her arms over her chest. I think that's supposed to make me feel like intimidated but I really, really don't care.

"You really shouldn't touch what's not yours." I counter back.

She steps closer to me. "You are such a stubborn little brat. What? Did mommy and daddy not give you your allowance?"

For this girl not knowing me at all, she sure knows how to push my buttons. I step a little closer to her now, "And you are so nosy." I accuse, "Did mommy and daddy not teach you to stay out of people's business?"

"I am not nosy," she argues back. "Just rightfully curious."

"Yeah, well, can you please be curious somewhere else." I counter back. Brittany doesn't even budge but stands her ground and even takes a step towards me again and this time we're so close, our nose just a mere centimeter apart.

"Make me." She challenges.

I look at her straight in the eyes and she doesn't even blink, looking back at me. My eyes eventually travel every single inch of her face and when they land on her lips, I just have this urge. Urge to do something, but I'm not sure what so I back away quickly before I do something stupid.

When I finally look back up at her, her face is…unreadable. It's like, completely blank. And we stand about an arms length away from each other but staring blankly at one another. I'm finally able to shake myself out of our staring contest and decide that it's time I go.

I turn around and make my way back to my bike. It's all fine and dandy but then I feel a soft gust of wind fly by me and then Brittany's standing in front of my bike, blocking me from it.

I let out a sigh, "And you say I'm stubborn?"

She doesn't answer, instead, she props herself up until she's sitting on my bike. I scrunch my eyebrows because seriously, who the hell does this girl think she is?

"Alright, enough with the games, Sweetheart. I have to get going." I beckon her to get off my bike. She doesn't say anything, just crosses her arms across her chest like before.

"Okay, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. Your choice."

I give her a chance to just get out of the way but she doesn't stir. She even looks away from me and lets out a huff.

I let out a breath. "Suit yourself Blondie." I shrug my shoulders and take a step towards her.

"What are you doing?" she finally speaks looking at me as I get increasingly closer to her.

I don't say a word, I continue walking closer until I'm close enough to slide one of my arms under the back of her knees. She fights me a little but then I'm lifting her up bridal style. She lets out a squeal and then her arms are wrapped around my neck and she's holding on to me for dear life. "Stop, stop!" she squeals.

"You want me to just drop you now?" I question, standing in place. "I mean, I could but if I just dropped you now, I'm pretty sure it would hurt." I explain sarcastically.

She stops talking and shakes her head indicating that she doesn't want me to do that and I smile because she's kind of…well cute when she's scared. Shit, did I really say that? I snap myself out of it and move to the bench and put her down carefully so she doesn't get hurt. Her eyes remain closed and I can't help the chuckle that escapes from my lips.

Her eyes open, but the second they do, it's narrowed towards me. She stands up and starts pushing my shoulders. Which by the way I think is incredibly unnecessary. I mean, I gave the girl a choice.

"You. Are. An. Ass!" she says in between hits.

I grab both of her wrist to still her movement. "I gave you a-"

"What's going on here?" A voice asks. We both avert our gazes to the voice and I see that it's her camera guy. What the hell is this guy? Her fucking lap dog? He's fucking everywhere.

"Nothing." Brittany says. I loosen my grip I have on her wrists and then she's waving him off. "I'll be there in a sec."

He nods hesitantly but doesn't make a move to return inside the bar. I stuff my hands in my pants pocket and just stand there awkwardly because seriously, this guy looks like he's about to punch me if I touch her or even speak to her.

"Uh, well. It's getting late and uh, I should probably go….feed my fish." I explain, rubbing the back of my neck. Brittany gives me a weird look but I just shrug in response. That's the second time today that I've used my imaginary fish as an excuse. I don't even know why. I hate fish.

"Sam, just go back in, I'll be there in a sec."

"I can wait, Britt." he counters.

She lets out an annoyed sigh before turning to him and pulling him inside the bar. Well, to say that was awkward would be an understatement. I decide I should probably go home, I mean, I was only supposed to smoke one cigarette and go home to help Ella.

Putting on my helmet, I start my bike and head home.

* * *

I step inside and when I make it to my floor, I can't help but chuckle with the sight that's presented to me. Ella's currently sitting down in front of the apartment room door, bags of groceries surrounding her, while stuffing her face with a Poptart.

She doesn't see me right away but the sound of my footsteps causes her to look up at me. I smirk at her and she rolls her eyes.

"Toof yoy rong ernugf." she says with her mouth full.

The smirk stays plastered on my face, "What?" I can't quite decipher what she's trying to say.

She pulls out a water bottle from her bag and take a drink before standing up.

"I said," she says a lot more clearer this time, "Took you long enough." Ella steps closer to me and engulfs me in a hug. I'm about to wrap my arms around her but then she's already pushing me back. "You smell bad." She states.

"What?" I laugh. "You're really going to deny me, your best friend, of a hug because of my extremely abhorrent bodily odor?"

She pinches her nose, and nods.

"What kind of best friend are you?" I laugh.

She scrunches up her nose but a smile dances across her face and we both know that we're just having fun. I dig through my jacket pocket for the keys and when I pull them out, Ella takes them out of my hand with a smile. "Thank ya."

I roll my eyes and pick up the grocery bags surrounding the door and bring them inside as she holds the door open for me. I place the bags on the kitchen island for her and I take a seat on it, my feet dangling. I grab a red apple from the bag, run it under warm water and take a bite.

Ella starts putting things in the refrigerator and I help her by handing some things to her from where I'm seated. "So, how was it?"

To be completely honest, I know exactly what she talking about so I don't know why I decided to play dumb. "How was what?"

"Drinking and hanging out with Puck and them." She clarifies but she doesn't stop her movements of putting groceries in the fridge.

I shrug my shoulders as if she could see, "Eh. It was fun."

"Yeah, you sound like you had fun." She giggles due to the lack of excitement from my voice. I don't say anything in response to that and that's when she stops what she's doing and goes to stand in front of me. "What happened?"

"Nothing." I tell her, taking a bite of my apple. But Ella doesn't believe me and she's giving me this look that says _'do you really think I'm that stupid?' _I shrug my shoulders and continue eating my apple hoping she'll just let it go but she doesn't. Instead, she takes a seat next to me, our feet dangling together side by side and she takes the apple from my hand.

"Hey!"

This time it's her turn to shrug her shoulder and then she takes a bite. "So, story time," she continues, "tell me what happened." she says resting her head on my shoulders.

"Well, it was a good night for the most part." I explain generally and she looks at me silently telling me to continue, "It was cool really, we were having drinks and stuff, I didn't drink that much but it was fun. You know? Hanging out with them but when you called and I told Puck that I had to leave; he didn't like the idea so I just left." I tell her while nodding my head.

I hear her let out a sigh. "Puck really doesn't like me, huh?"

I look down at her with an incredulous look, "You know Puck likes you Ell." And it's absolutely true too. Puck does like Ella, he really does. It's just since Puck and I have been friends for a lot longer, he just doesn't want to see me get hurt with…the whole situation and everything.

I can tell that doesn't reassure her whatsoever and before I know it, I'm talking again. "It's just you know, with us and everything, Puck's just doesn't want me to get hurt." She looks at me with those eyes and I know she feels sorry for me. I regret everything I just said because getting pitied is annoying but getting pitied by her, specifically, is just pathetic.

"San…"

"I told him it's alright though, I told him that the past is the past." I interrupt her. "I'm over it, so he should be over it."

When I look at her, she avoids eye contact and I realize that even though it was just more of word vomit, this was the first time I've mentioned _this _around her in a year and a half. I've avoided this topic as if it were the plague, and there's not way I'm getting sick after I've just gotten a little better.

Ever since I told her how I felt, and she explained that she didn't feel the same, we-well I acted like everything was still the same. I think she expected it to be awkward but I wasn't ready to lose her as a friend so I just sucked it up and pretended like everything was fine and as if I hadn't confessed how I felt about her the day before. Apart of me knew she played along because she felt like she couldn't lose me like that either and to be honest, that was enough for me because having her friendship was better than having nothing with her at all.

It's silent between us and I decide that I should probably go shower and let her get back to doing what she was doing. I jump off the counter and I'm in the mist of moving away when her hand grabs ahold of my jacket. She pulls me back and I'm standing in-between her legs while they dangle off the counter. She reaches for the lapels of my jacket and pulls me in for a hug and all I can do is hug her back. "I missed you so much." She whispers.

"Missed you too, Ell." I tell her, a small smile on my face. I pull back and when I look at her, she's smiling. "Well, I think I'm just gonna head to bed." I tell her, rubbing the back of my neck, "long day tomorrow." I explain. I walk out of the kitchen and make my way down the hall to my room.

"You're not hungry?" she pouts.

"Nah, you go ahead and eat." I chuckle. She reluctantly nods and I continue walking down the hall. I can hear her bringing out the pots and pans from the kitchen so I know she's actually making something to eat.

I make it into my room and plop down on the bed, starring at the ceiling. That's when I think about what Puck had said about Ella earlier at the bar. Maybe he was right. Not right about just leaving her locked out but right about everything else. I seem to always put her ahead of myself, always dropping everything for her, even when sometimes it's not quite necessary. I let out a frustrated sigh and bring my hands up to rub my eyes.

After laying and thinking things over a little more, I finally get out of bed and jump in the shower.

After showering and getting ready for bed, I just kind of laid there again. I mean, you know that feeling right? It's like your body is like 'no, you don't need sleep' but your mind is just….well, asleep.

Just as my eyes were about to close, a soft knock on the door brings me back. "Yeah?" I croak. Ella sticks her inside my room, i think to check to see if i really was awake. Once we make eye contact, she opens the door wider and steps in the room.

"Sorry, I came to grab some clothes in my suitcase." she says waving her hands to the suitcase that's lying on the end of my bed. I sit up and i see that she's also walking into my closet to grab some things. I wait for her to return and she does, just with another comforter and some pillows.

I let out a soft laugh because it's pretty obvious that Ella's having trouble carrying it all. I stand up from the bed and take the things from her arms. "Hey, why don't you just sleep on the bed, okay? I'll take the sofa tonight."

"No, it's o-"

"Ell, you had to sleep on an airplane for a couple days, you need somewhere comfortable to sleep." I chuckle.

She sighs, and I think it's because she knows I'm right and she doesn't' even want to try to fight it anymore. She hands me the pillow and I take it with my free hand. "Just do what you have to do in here, okay." Ella nods in response and I give her a small smile, "Night, Ell."

* * *

I wake up the next morning to my alarm going off. Sunday is the only day where I set my alarm at 7 in the morning for…well, reasons. I reach for my glasses and make sure to fold the comforter before slowly and quietly tip-toeing back into my room. I grab my towel that's hanging on my desk chair and make my way in the closet. I quietly make it back after getting everything I need and quietly close the door, which fails because of the squeak that it makes. I mentally curse to myself and look at the bed to see if I've woken Ella up but she's still asleep so i quick shut the door and twist the knob before shutting it close to avoid the clicking sound that it creates when it locks into place.

I hurry up and get ready because Sunday mornings are usually supposed to be a routine type thing. I put on my jacket and start digging through everything trying to find my keys and coming up short but then I remember that I put them in my jacket pocket yesterday. I dig in my pockets and sure enough, it's there.

I close the door to my apartment room quietly and lock it before rushing down the stairs to get to my bike.

I drive to The Rose's Roses. Parking my bike and entering the flower shop, I already see my flowers and macaroons placed on the checkout counter.

"You were a couple minutes late so I figured you weren't picking these up this morning." Marley says, walking out from the back room, smile planted on her face, as always.

Marley runs her mother's flower shop for her somedays and today happens to be one of the days. She and I go to school together but I had no idea until I started coming here.

I let out a soft laugh, "Yeah, it wasn't even a busy morning, I was just late because I was late." I explain.

"For the 3 months that you've been coming here every Sunday morning at 7:30, you have never been late. Early maybe, but never late." She teases.

I hand her my card, "I guess you can't be consistent about everything." I smile. She swipes the card and doesn't even bother asking if I want the receipt because the response is always a no.

"Very True." She says handing me my card back and I take the flowers and the box from her hands.

"See you next Sunday, Santana."

"See ya then, Marley. Tell your mom I said Hi." I tell her as I start walking backwards, not even caring if I ran into anyone or anything.

"Will do!" she half yells to me as I turn around and push the door, causing the little bell that lets you know that a customer is either leaving or entering, to ring.

I jump on my bike and make my way to my next destination.

* * *

Finding a parking is always so damn difficult, you'd think i'd figure out like a secret place to park or something but nope. I walk up and look at the tall building in front of me before proceeding to walk through the automatic doors.

"Santana! Hows it going?"

I smile, "Great, Andy, great. How are you doing?"

"Feeling good as ever." Andy says. Andy's the security man. Given the fact that he's about 60, he's probably the only security man that does his job good and right. And he loves his job.

"That's good. Here ya go." I hand him his box of macaroon and he hands me my name tag that verifies that I'm a visitor.

"Pleasure doin' business." I chuckle.

"Always is, Santana." He laughs.

I greet the women at the desk and continue making my way through the halls. I enter the elevator and push the button for level five causing it to light up.

I quickly walk out of the door when it opens and continue walking down the halls, flowers in my hand until I reach room 537.

I softly knock and don't even bother with waiting, I just walk through the door.

"Mija!"

I smile, "Hey Abuela." I greet her with a kiss on the cheek and she takes the flowers from my hands.

"Oh, thanks Mija. They're beautiful as always." She says sitting up on her bed.

"Careful," I tell her. "Doctors still want you to take things slowly, grandma." I help her sit up a little.

"Ah, details details." She laughs, "They're just so uptight." She says waving it off. I chuckle and pull a chair next to her bed to take a seat.

"They're doing their job, Abuela." I smile. "Dr. Holiday is coming in today right?"

She nods her head. "I don't know why she bothers wasting her time though. She could be doing something else, helping someone else, but she just stops by to tell me the same thing every Sunday. It's quite unnecessary if you ask me." She says shaking her head. "Anyways, how was your week, Mija?"

"It was good. School's good, my professor just assigned us another paper to write, but other than it's good. Oh! Ella's back too." I tell her.

"That's good Santana. Ella? Which one is that?"

"Ella, Grams." I chuckle, "Officer Shuester's daughter." I clarify.

"Oh, okay." She says nodding her head. I'm not quite sure if she really does remember but whatever. She's never really met any of my friends. I just talk to her about them. "How was dinner with your parents?"

"Well," I tell her scratching the back of my neck. "you see, I really haven't had the time." I explain.

"You promised me you would go," My grandma chastises, giving me a stern look.

"Abuela, I've been busy lately. And I did no such thing." I said defending myself. "I said I'd try to make dinner but I never promised."

"Can't you just do this one thing for your ailing grandmother?" She asks feigning sadness, hand covering her heart. A little to melodramatic if you ask me.

"Oh, Jesus Christ." I mumble. She does this every other time that I come in to visit. It's her version of a guilt trip. Which is pretty cruel but extremely clever. She gets me to do anything with the guilt trip.

"I'm just going to die, alone. Knowing my family is…not even a family." She reaches for my hand. "I just want you to know, that I tried really, really hard to get you guys back to being a family again, but I guess, you're not willing to overlook this for your old, frail, grandmother."

"My god. Okay, okay. I'll go to dinner, Abuela."

And just like that, she drops my hand and her 'sadness' is gone. "Oh, you just the sweetest granddaughter ever." She says pinching my cheeks.

"I'm your only granddaughter." I remind her.

"Then it makes sense, doesn't it?" she retorts.

"Touche, grandmother, touche."

We talk a little more and I even try to remind her who Ella is, but she takes it like I've never even talked about Ella before, which is really funny, because I remember talking about her a lot when with the my grandma. I mean, Abuela knows I'm gay and she doesn't care. Hell, she even tried hooking me up with one of the nurses in training that always helps checking on her.

One time I was visiting and there was nurse also in the room, checking her IV tubes and everything, I was sitting on the couch reading a magazine when I look over and I see my grandma talking quietly with the nurse. When the nurse turned around, I saw that her cheeks were pink. I gave her a smile but it was one of those polite smiles.

"Santana, I was telling Kristen here how pretty she is. She is isn't she?" I nod my head in response because yeah, she was pretty. Like the classy type of pretty you know? But then my grandma continues talking. "See?" my grandma whispers to the nurse.

"Kristen, did you know that Santana is single?"

That's when I sit up a little straighter on the couch, "Abuela." I look to her. Sort of giving her the look to tell her to stop talking. But of course, she tends to have a mind of her own.

"You kids should go on a date."

"Oh, god." I close the magazine and stand up. "Okay, Abuela, umm…I gotta go to work, okay." I move over to her to kiss her cheek quickly before moving to the door.

"I thought you don't work Sundays?" she says questioning me.

"Mike just called me." I lie.

"Okay, see you Sunday, Mija and don't be rude, say bye to the Kristen." She says. I stop walking and turn around. "Bye, Nurse" I mumble. She laughs and nods in response.

But yeah, she doesn't care, at all. Even though she doesn't care, and no matter how much I go on and on about Ella, I just can't bring myself to let them meet each other. Or any of my friends for that matter. My grandma is the most important person in my life, and I'm just not willing to share her with anyone unless it just feels inevitable. So, I'm selfish, sue me.

We continue talking and Dr. Holiday comes in to the room. She tells us the usual and all I can do is nod. I stay for another ten minutes before I have to leave. "Okay, Abuela. I have to run some errands and you have physical therapy." I proceed to stand up and lean down to kiss her cheeks. "I'll see you next Sunday."

She kisses my forehead. "I'll see you next Sunday, Mija." I smile and nod and continue to walk when the door opens and the nurses come in to take her to her therapy session.

* * *

I arrive at Artie's place and knock on the door a couple of times before he manages to open it for me. I open the door fully and step inside. "Shit Abrams, you look like shit." I laugh. His hair is going in every direction possible, I'm positive he's wearing the same thing he wore yesterday and his glasses are crooked.

"Don't remind me." He says huffing. "I got hacked into the security camera, the one you installed in that hallway yesterday, and everything should be good. I also got into the monitor room so don't worry about getting caught." He says, getting straight to business. "I was able to freeze the image of the hallway, just like you wanted, so that when they try to look back, they won't see anything but an empty hallway."

I nod understanding what he was saying. "alright, and you have my new employee ID right?" We figured, I wouldn't be able to get in with the same ID from yesterday because there were problems so I had asked him to make a new one.

"Yeah." He hands me the red lanyard, a pair of glasses and a hat. "You need some sort of disguise so they don't recognize you off the bat." He says, explaining the reason for the glasses. "They also record everything so don't lose them."

"Alright."

"You should also be able to get pass security without any trouble. I was checking the shifts of the security staff and the name of the securities in the front today were different from the ones yesterday. Just be careful for anyone else."

"Gotcha," I tell him. I tie my hair up in a pony tail, put the hat on, place the glasses on the bridge of my nose, and let the lanyard hang loosely around my neck.

"What am I? Like what is my fake job?" I ask him, curiously.

"You're supposed to be a techie." He informs me.

"Dude, I should totally dress like one." I tell him, while I start tucking my shirt in, and pulling my pants up a little higher.

"I don't know if I should be happy that your taking the disguise thing really well or if I should be offended that you think that all tech people dress like that." He laughs. "Oh, you have the security codes and everything right?"

"Yeah, it's in my pocket."

"Alright, you're set to go." He continues typing away on his computer setting everything up, including the security cameras.

"Alright, I'll be back when I'm back." I tell him reaching for the door but his voice stops me from going any further.

"You should really start getting a new catch phrase. That one's not quiet comforting."

"Yeah, well, comforting people was never really my thing."

* * *

I park my bike outside the building and oddly, there's a lot of cars today. I forget about thinking about any deeper though and make my way inside. Even though, I've been in this building too many times to count, it still manages to give me this unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I spot the security in the front and Artie was right about there being different people today. Before I step any further, I fix my hat, that's a little tilted, tuck in my shirt a little better, and adjust my backpack and glasses. There aren't many people in the front though so I'm wondering if there's a meeting going on. I continue walking and don't even bother paying attention when a hand stops me.

"We're going to need to check your backpack."

"Oh, my bad." I take off my backpack and hand it over to him. He digs through the bag thoroughly and even looking at the papers that are in there. Just when he's about to zip open the smaller part of the backpack, I remember that I have all of the codes to get into rooms in the building. Surely this asshole would read and re-read it if it were to be in his hand. And so I panicked.

I let out a cough. "Um, sir." I pull my bag away from him and he looks like about ready to call for backup but then I continue, "Sorry, but that has all of my 'lady stuff' in it." I mumble lowly.

At first he seemed confused but when I gave him that look he got it and let out a cough of his own. "Sorry about that. Um…you're free to go."

I give him a small nod and throw my backpack over my shoulder again before walking quickly away from him. I make it to the elevator and quickly push the button for level 15. I let my back rest on the walls of the elevator and let out a relieved sigh. Just as the door was about to close, a hand stops it signaling for the elevator to hold.

I squint my eyes in confusion. When the elevator door opens and reveals who the hell is on the other side, I can't help but roll my eyes.

"Oh, for the love of God." I mumble

"A simple 'hello' works too."

Of course, it's gotta be her.

It's always her.

* * *

**It'll get a little crazy after this chapter so stick with me guys!**


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